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Published: August 27th 2007
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The Three Tea Ceremony
Serving the tea in the cultural centre in Xizhou Another day trip by car from Dali concentrated on the Bai minority culture. Our first stop was at the Folklore Centre in the Bai village of Xizhou (admission 50 yuan). This building had a double courtyard plan, surrounded by wooden balconies on the second floor and in a large room beyond the second courtyard they demonstrated local costume, songs, dance etc in a presentation of the Three Tea Ceremony. The dialogue was only in Mandarin but the show was very visual and enjoyable, culminating in the sequential tasting of three teas - the first was bitter, the second very sweet with honey added and the third one was just right - with some honey and cinnamon.
Leaving this area we found a quiet street on the far side of the village with many traditional Bai homes. These are white courtyard homes with ornate entrances and tilework and painted designs in the gable ends. One had a crudely scrawled graffiti on the outside identifying it as The House of the General, an elderly man came down the street and invited us in. Several doors opened off the inner courtyard and he showed us his little kitchen area. Clothes hung
Bai architectural features
The ornate entrance is surrounded by distinctive decorative tile and brickwork. on a clothes line across the court and a bird sang in a cage outside the old man's apartment. Several people lived in this compound, but I am not sure if they were all related.
Our next visit was to the village of Zhoucheng and a tie-dying and batik business. On one side of the courtyard there were huge vats of dye, and the yard was a mass of piles of cloth, plain and dyed in brilliant colours. In the rooms around the yard , on two floors, were thousands of finished batik pieces. The most typical were in dark blue with white patterns and suitable for tablecloths and wall hangings. In the courtyard many of the workers were working on large numbers of tie-dyed skirts in the latest fashion - maybe a big order for some retail company.
Also in the village of Zhoucheng we found the market square with a huge shade tree in the centre and an old opera stage on one side, for the itinerant Chinese opera groups that work through the villages and towns. The stalls had a large variety of fruits and vegetables and again there were many butcher stalls.
Two stalls were making potato chips in large oil-filled woks, - seasoned, warm, fresh and served in paper cones they outdid our bagged varieties by far. Beside the square there was a large open sided building which seemed to be something of a community centre, with many mainly elderly people playing cards and mahjong.
At this point we thought our tour was finished but the taxi driver, who could not speak English, produced a flyer showing some local Buddhist caves and grottos which were accessible by cable cars and asked if we would like to visit.. It was on the way back to Dali and so we agreed. The little cable cars gave us a great view of Lake Erhai and then we were into the cave tour, which was quite strenous due to the hundreds of steps linking the galleries. We had to be accompanied by a guide and she tried to move us through at a faster pace than we would have liked. We were also hard pressed by a large group of Chinese tourists behind who had a guide with a megaphone, which was quite unnecessary and shattered the peace of the caves. When we
finally emerged we were on the mountainside far above the entrance and upper station of the cable car but, when the large group had charged past us and down the path, this was the special moment. The air was delightfully cool and smelt of the pines and balsam growing on the slopes around us. The view was also incredible at that height and we reluctantly walked down to catch our cable car back to the entrance.
The taxi driver had one more sight in store for us. As we approached Dali, he swung off the main road and drove us up to the perfect spot to photograph the famous Three Pagodas of Dali, dropping us off to walk and snap. Immediately women in their colourful traditional dress carrying loads of fruit on carrying poles swooped on us to try for a sale of their grapes, hairy lychees, peaches and apples. Their persistence got them a sale in the end but we didn't regret it as the fruit was excellent and refreshing at the end of a day's touring. Then it was back to the haven of Jim's Tibetan Hotel.
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Christine Hay
non-member comment
WOW!
You have introduced me to the world of blogs! Looks like you are having a well-rounded trip! Love the photos. Enjoy!